What happens in an adult autism assessment?

I found the assessment to be not as sceary as I thought, and as I talk a lot when I open up or an nurvous, they didn't need t do such a long assssment as they do with people that can be harder to get information from them.  I had in the four and a half years of being on the waiting list been thinking a lot about past experiences, so it was easier for me to recall events. I alsp have a very visual mind so I can recall past events in relevent detail in film-like form which helps me describe my childhood years, as I have memories of when I was a few months old onwards, though my mind only captures brief glimpses if they seem significently relevent for some reason... But the length of the assessment itself varies from.person to person and rarely is an assessment done in a day! Is usually several appointments (These days half is done online as a video call thingie which they helped me get working on the actual meeting part of the appointment where one takes someone that knows you when you were young (I took my Mum), so the actual meeting in person was just a few hours asking questions. Nothing sceary and nothing one needs to revise for).

That is how I feel right now. I wish I could have a chromosome test or a brain scan to tell me. I fear I will never know if my autistic traits are due to biology, or my social isolation as a result of medical problems in childhood. This is what the assessment will aim to find out, I hope I am given enough time to talk through it properly.

You got the result straight away? Lucky you!

I had to wait a few weeks, which was incredibly difficult. During that period I had to hold two different versions of myself in my head, two different pasts and two different futures, not knowing which was real.

I was a few minutes late for my interview because of a subway problem, so I was extremely flustered - I get very anxious about not being on time for things. This was probably helpful to be honest because I unmasked.

This was something that worried me a lot because my parents are gone.

In the end they let me use a cousin and a co-worker I’ve know for a long time. I think they would have let me go through without those people. They said it’s a very common problem.

This was the same for me. I found the two hour interview the most difficult part, mostly because my mind went blank and I sort of froze as I tend to do in any sort of interview. 

They were luckily very understanding and supportive though, gave me plenty of time to think and talk. I was also allowed to write some things down when I couldn't put it in to words.

I filled in the parent form myself based on what I could remember and that seemed to be fine

I was assessed in person by the NHS in October. I spent 3.5 hours answering questions about my routines, sensory differences and social difficulties, both now and when I was a child. We took a fiver minute break halfway through. At the end I was told I'm autistic. Three months later I received a report and an invitation for a follow up appointment.

 This may sound sooo dumb but how are people getting therapists. I seriously need one. The only ones I’ve had are CBT during my depressive episodes  but by the time I started said episodes would be almost being over

What happens if you don’t quite have parental/ or friends support. I.e my case where I have no emotions towards my family I don’t particularly care for them and I never tell them anything about me. They don’t even know I was diagnosed with depression/ anxiety, they don’t know about attempted unalivings or attempted running away etc etc (low-key want to keep it that way). I don’t have friends close enough as I’m still always heavily “masked” around them and each friend know me with different traits. One knows chocolate gives me a headache/ migraine one doesn’t etc etc. and I moved here from a different country when I was 7 so a lot of childhood friends and early childhood teachers are all back there.

Eessentially my question is can you still get through the assessment by yourself?  

There were forms for your parents to fill in about how you were as a young child and the other forms would have given you the opportunity to list your other problems.

I have been wondering the same, my therapist suggested I go. It just seems like an awful lot of time and I have a baby

So they would see the communication difficulty but then would they have an alternative way to give information about life experiences? Other than the people who know you interviews

The initial interview would also obviously be a chance for the psychologist to witness / observe any difficulties too.

The ADOS test is a standard test (in the UK anyway) to assess things including how you interact with people. It’s usually done by a speech and language therapist. It’s a very weird experience.

The forms I had to fill in would have covered all of that anyway and the other people they interviewed would have been able to tell them about such problems.

Amerantin (former member) said:

a two hour interview taking my life history and my experiences that made me think I might be autistic

I know im not part of this but Are those always like back and forth conversation type interviews? What about people who struggle to explain things verbally, especially with delayed processing in social situations

Everyone on here seems to have a different experience. For some it was a single Zoom call, for others much more.

I had:

• a two hour interview taking my life history and my experiences that made me think I might be autistic
• a two hour IQ test
• the ADOS test (an hour or so)
• two interviews with people who know me (with me not present)
• about a dozen forms